Fiat boss Sergio Marchionne has committed to reviving the famous Italian brand's heritage.

Alfa Romeo gets its saviour

Alfa Romeo needs to reclaim its sporting rear-drive heritage and Sergio Marchionne, the colourful Italian born and Canadian raised CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automobile, says he’ll be fighting to ensure it happens.

Fiat, which took full control of the US Chrysler Jeep operation in January to create the world’s seventh largest car-making company, also has the Ferrari, Maserati, Lancia and Abarth brands in its portfolio.

In a free-ranging press conference at the Geneva motor show, Marchionne said FCA was determined not to make the same mistakes as those that cost the once sporty and desirable Alfa Romeo brand so dearly.

"So power-to-weight ratios were unique. The performances of the engines were something exceptional. These are things we need to go back to.

“Alfa did not have front-wheel-drive architecture until Fiat showed up,” he said, adding that the company needs to go back and rethink the elements that made Alfa a strong brand in the past.

Marchionne indicated he wants to keep the production of the Alfa Romeo brand in Italy. “Alfa needs to be an Italian brand produced in Italy with Italian powertrains. Alfa belongs to Italy, just as Ferrari does and Maserati does.” Marchionne declared emphatically that productivity and quality at Italian plants had improved significantly and was at a standard as good as the rest of Europe.

The extent of Marchionne’s determination that Alfa would remain Italian came in his statement that he would no longer be the CEO of the company should Fiat look outside Italy for production sites.

“We can build great cars and anyone who doubts that should take a look at the Maserati [Geneva show] stand.”

Automotive News reported that Alfa Romeo will miss out on the convertible while another Fiat Chrysler brand, most likely Fiat or the Abarth performance brand, will instead be favoured.

“It’s potentially still part of the Alfa plan as it is potentially part of another brand. I think that the architecture itself is sufficiently pliable to be available not just to Alfa but to others, and I think that we are in discussions with our partner now how to best utilise the commitment that we have made to Mazda.

“I have nothing to tell you. Again I know there was some indiscretion, arguably, that was leaked in the marketplace. I have nothing to contribute to the indiscretion itself. There are normal talks going on between car producers, which is absolutely normal. We remain committed to the project, and that’s the important thing. We are committed to using that architecture with our powertrains.”

Marchionne said the first new Alfa to be developed under the new plan would be produced before the end of next year. He expects Alfa Romeo to return to the US market after the new products appear. After that….China.

The news for Lancia fans is less cheery. “Obviously I think we have curtailed the ambitions for Lancia, and I think it’s been clear by the fact that we have focused on Ypsilon [mini car], and the Italian market has been really the core of the Lancia brand going forward.